"If animals did not exist, the nature of man would be even more incomprehensible"

Sunday, August 31, 2008

I have a new theory about Sarah Palin. She is not intended to pull Hillary Clinton voters, except for those who are completely oblivious. Her huge pro-life stance will turn off the vast majority of Hillary supporters. Instead, she is a pull for disaffected evangelicals. It seems more than likely that a huge number of evangelicals would have stayed home rather than vote for John McCain, and in his campaign he has made a number of concessions to them; he was doing his best to pander. In this respect, Sarah Palin is possibly the best choice they could have made: she is a wholesome, American, evangelical, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-drilling, anti-wildlife soccer mom. She is not a replacement for Hillary Clinton; she's a replacement for Ron Paul.

Cuba has already been hit by Gustav; it appears that it was a Category 4 (same as Katrina) when it hit land. There is no report on human injury yet from Cuba, but over sixty people have died in Haiti, and fifteen deaths have been reported from Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. The hurricane is expected to hit the U.S., and there is a greater than fifty percent chance it will hit New Orleans as a Category 5 hurricane.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Friday, August 29, 2008

John McCain had an exceptionally cranky interview with Time Magazine earlier this week. I think we might now know why he was so upset. Here is an imaginary conversation between him and his campaign adviser just before the interview :

Adviser: Look, John, you remind voters of Dick Cheney, and Sarah Palin is the most un-Cheneyesque thing that exists in the Republican Party. She's youngish, she's attractive - I mean, she was a runner up in Miss Alaska - and she'll pull away Hillary voters.

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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Buzzflash.com has an article on the mysterious failure to charge the three men who brought assault rifles to Denver in order to assassinate Obama.

In an era where a drunk bar patron raving against the continued existence of a president or candidate could be picked up and questioned by the Secret Service without the bat of an eyelash, anyone should be seriously concerned by a driver in Denver hauling the following:

"...two high-powered rifles, including one with telescopic sights, along with radios, wigs, a bullet-proof vest, a high-magnification spotting scope, three identifications not belonging to Mr. Gartrell, and 44 grams of the stimulant methamphetamine. One rifle had a threaded barrel so that it could be fitted with a silencer."

Sounds like a classic assassination kit. The fact that it was only uncovered after a chance traffic stop is troubling.

As buzzflash mentions, tt's a little eerie, to say the least, that a police officer would write this off as "the racist rantings of drug abusers." Because meth heads have never hurt anyone.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Everyone agrees that if oil production is going to increase it will have to come from the group of 13 oil producing countries known as OPEC. But can OPEC really do it? We meet the men in power and find out that all may not be as it seems. Travelling to Kuwait the documentary team uncovers exclusive evidence that world oil reserves may be exaggerated by up to 50%.

There is a new documentary on CBCNewsworld, entitled Oil Apocalypse Now?. According to the promotional bulletin, it "reveals the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding the future of our world's oil supplies" and offers an in-depth, intercontinental look at oil production and consumption. It airs September 15 at 10 PM ET and September 21 at 8 PM ET on CBC Newsworld.

Update: The title of the original is Petroabpocalypse Now?, but I think they're changing it for North American audiences. Here's the trailer. I can't stand the voiceover, but I think it looks interesting, nevertheless.

Monday, August 11, 2008

So, contrary to what I had been led to believe, the job prospects do not look bleak at all for postsecondary teachers in the coming years. I came across the labor department job discussions while looking up something entirely unrelated; they seem to think that job growth in postsecondary education is projected to have much larger job growth than most other fields (except, of course, the big alternative energy boom that we're waiting on). This may be wrong, but it's certainly heartening.